Red carpet treatment lined up for US president and Michelle Obama for first UK state visit by American president since 2003
They may not (yet) have been invited to the royal wedding in April, but the US president and first lady will make their first state visit to the UK in May after accepting an official invitation from the Queen.
Barack and Michelle Obama will spend three days as guests of the royal household arriving on Tuesday 24 May before leaving on Thursday 26 May and travelling on to this year's G8 summit in Deauville on the northern coast of France.
Though the pair have visited the UK before, when Obama was a Democratic presidential candidate in July 2008 and next with a high-profile visit in April 2009 for the G20 summit, this time they will get the full regal works – a ceremonial welcome, guest rooms at Buckingham Palace and a banquet held in their honour.
There will be work too, with Obama likely to bring a delegation and hold meetings with David Cameron. Their sit downs are likely to be less fractious than they once might have been. Obama believes in a strong unified European Union and is said to have been relieved that Cameron's period as prime minister has so far seen him go easy on the Euroscepticism.
They will be expected to discuss timetables for the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and also the progress of their deficit reduction programmes. Once Obama did not share Cameron's analysis that public spending cuts were necessary while both economies were ailing, but he has now begun a deficit reduction.
Obama is the least sentimental of all recent American presidents about the "special relationship" but after the involvement of BP in last year's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico – during which Obama emphasised the company was called British Petroleum – Obama issued clarifying remarks, saying the Anglo-American relationship was "truly special".
The PM's official spokesman said: "The prime minister is very pleased this visit is taking place. It is a sign of the strong and enduring relationship between our two countries."
There are only usually one or two state visits a year to the UK – the last was in October by the Emir of Qatar. Since the Queen's coronation in 1952 there have been 12 US presidents and she has met all of them barring Lyndon B Johnson.
It is the first state visit of the US president since George W Bush was invited over by the Queen in 2003. Bush visited again in 2008 when he stayed at Windsor Castle but that was not a full state visit. In 2003 between 110,000 and 200,000 people protested about Bush's visit and Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic toppled a five metre-effigy of the president.
There will be also concerns over costs this time. Policing the recent state visit of the pope cost as much as £7m. But protests are less likely with Obama, who is likely to get a much warmer reception with both public and the palace.
The first American couple visited Buckingham Palace in 2009 when Michelle Obama was seen placing her hand on the back of the Queen – a breach of protocol meant to suggest the pair had got on very well. When Michelle Obama brought her daughters to the UK on a private holiday, they were given a tour of Buckingham Palace and met the Queen.
It may still be that the Obamas visit in the month before for the royal wedding on 29 April. The guest list for that event is still unpublished, but so far the Obamas have not received their invitation.
Michelle Obama last week told the American chat show Live with Regis and Kelly: "No, I'm not going … I wasn't invited", but appeared happy to attend if asked. The first lady said: "You know what? Marriage is a personal, private thing. They should invite who they want to invite. And if I get invited, I'll go. Sure, why not?"
Though Nancy Reagan attended the royal wedding of Diana and Charles in 1981 and the wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson in 1986, she attended alone without Ronald Reagan. When Bill Clinton was president neither he nor Hillary attended Prince Edward's wedding to Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1999.